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Practical beekeeping designed for the use of the beginner and small apiarist
MONTANA AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION V. B. IvINRIEl^D, Director. BULLETIN NO. 67. Designed for the Use of the Beginner and Small Apiarist. Adapted to the State of Montana. OF THE XNIVEF UNIVERSITY) BY RALPH BENTON Under the Direction Of R. A. COOLEY, Entomologist. BOZEMAN, MONTANA JUNE, 1907. AGRICULTURAL COLIJEOE EXPERIMENT STATION. F\ B. I^INJTIEL^D, Director. BOZEMAN, MONTANA STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION JOSEPH K. TOOLE, Governor \ A. J. GALEN, Attorney General V Ex-Officio Helena W. E. HARMON, Sup't Public Instruction \ J. M. EVANS ........ Missoula C. R. LEONARD ........ Butte O. W. McCoNNELL ....... Helena 0. P. CHISHOLM ....... Bozeman S. D. LARGENT ....... Great Falls G. T. PAUL .... . Dillon E. O. BUSENBURG ....... Lewistown CHARLES R. KESSLER ....... Helena EXECUTIVE BOARD WALTER S. HARTMAN, President . . . Bozeman E. B. LAMME, Vice-President ...... Bozeman JOHN MAXEY ...... Bozeman JOHN ROBINSON ...... Bozeman E. BROOX MARTIN . . . . . . Bozeman GEO. Cox, Secretary STATION STAFF F. B. LINFIELD, B, 3. A., Director. R. A. COOLEY, B. Sc., Entomologist V. K. CHESNUT, B. Sc., Chemist. R. W. FISHER, B. S. Horticulturist. E. TAPPAN TANNATT, B. S., Rural Engineer W, J. ELLIOTT, B. S. A., Dairyman ALFRED ATKINSON, B. S. A., Agronomist ROBERT W. CLARK, B. AGR., Animal Industry. EDMUND BURKE, Meterologist and Assistant Chemist FRANK HAM, M. S., Assistant Chemist ANDREW P. ANDERSON, Assistant Engineer. DEANE B. SWINGLE, M. S., Assistant Botanist. J. B. NELSOH, Sup't. Dry Farm Work. H. O. BUCKMAN, B. S., Assistant Agronomist. Post Office, Express and Freight Station, Bozeman. All communications to the Experiment Station should be addressed to THE MONTANA EXPERIMENT STATION, Bozeman, Montana NOTICE. The Bulletins of the Experiment Station will be mailed free to any citizen of Montana on request. Please state whether all publications are desired as issued or only those specified. Give name and address plainly. LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. i . B. LINFIELD, Director, Agricultural Experment Station, Bozeman, Montana. Dear Sir: The accompanying paper, entitled practical bee-keeping, de- signed for the use of the beginner and small apiarist, adapted to the state of Montana, has been prepared by Mr. Ralph Benton, a graduate of the Montana Agricultural College in the class of 1906. Mr. Benton is well qualified to write on this subject having had a lifelong experience with bees with his father, who is the Apiarist of the United States Department of Agriculture, and having also had several years of practical experience in Montana. The paper was submitted in lieu of a thesis and was prepared during Mr. Benton's senior year. Several photographs made by myself are submitted for illus- trations; several others have been borrowed, credit for each bor- rowed cut being placed in the legend. The results of our experiments in apiculture are summarized by Mr. Benton , it seeming to be desirable to publish a popular bulletin covering in a general way the whole subject of apiculture m Montana, rather than to publish in separate bulletins such a gen- eral work and in addition a detailed statement of our experiments. I recommend that this paper be published as Bulletin No. 67 of our regular series. R. A. COOLEY, Zoologist and Entomologist. Bozeman, Montana, Nov. 15, 1906. CONTENTS Section i Structure of the Honey Bee. Section 2 Some Habits of the Bees: Section 3 Varieties of Bees and Their Geographical Distribution.. Section 4 Bees and Flowers Honey Producing Plants. Section 5 Essentials of a Good Bee Hive. Section 6 Technique of Handling Bees. Section 7 Starting an Apiary. Section 8 Modes of Wintering. Section 9 Queen Rearing. Section 10 Methods of Controlling Increase. Section n Production of Honey. Section 12 Bee Diseases. Practical Beekeeping STRUCTURE OF THE HONEY BEE In order to understand the highly specialized appendages and organs of the honey bee it will be profitable to first consider th* structure of a typical insect. The main external structural charac- ter separating insects from closely related forms, such as spideri, scorpions, mites and even the larger animals as the cray-fishes and lobsters, is the fact that they uniformly have six legs. These may not in all cases be used for walking, as in the case of some but- terflies which employ only four legs, yet have the other two present in a dwarfed condition. The body of an insect is divided into three easily distinguish- able portions, the head, the thorax and the abdomen. The origin ot these three divisions can be better understood if a caterpillar be examined. The caterpillar we find is composed of a series of rings, or metameres, as they are called. The primitive ancestor of in- sects is believed to have had more metameres than insects now possess, and it is supposed that each segment had a pair of appenda- ges. In the adult insect of today these rings are more or less unit- ed into a varying number in different insects. The head is supposed to be formed of several of these segments fused together with the appendages modified to function as mouth parts and sense organs. It is generally agreed that three segments with their three pairs of appendages unite to form the thorax or second section of the body which bears the three pairs of legs. The remaining segments are usually easily distinguishable even in the adult, though in some instances the last two or three are united and their appendages are modified to aid in the deposition of eggs, or for defense, in the form of a stinger, as is the case in the hornets and bees. Insects as a class are divided up into a series of orders based upon structural differences. The six principal orders are: Or- thoptera or grasshoppers, etc. ; Hemiptera or true bugs, including tree hoppers, plant lice, water bugs, etc. ; the Coleoptera or beetles ; the Lepidoptera, including moths and butterflies; the Diptera, in- cluding the true flies; and the Hymenoptera, including the bees, ants, wasps and hornets. It is generally believed that the Hy- menoptera compose the highest order of insects, yet these orders have developed parallel to each other. Of the Hymenoptera the supremacy lies between the ants and the bees, and from the num- ber of specialized organs and products of bees, they may be given the higher place. Carrying the subdivision further, the Kymenoptera, so named from their membranous wings, are divided into two sub-orders: the boring Hymenoptera including the saw- flies, gall-flies, ichneumon-flies, etc., and the stinging Hymenoptera including the ants, wasps and bees. The bees are called the Apina. They are again subdivided into families, the short tongued bees or Andrenidae, and the long tongued bees or Apidae, the honey bee falling, of course, within the latter group. Apidae are again subdivided and we distinguish the genus Bombus or bumble-bees, the genus Megapis or giant bees, and the genus Apis or the common honey bees. The genus Megapis is separated into species and we have Megapis dorsata, Megapis zonata, and Megapis testacea, the giant bees of India, Java and the Philippines. The genus Apis is separated into the following species, Apis florea and Apis indica, the small East Indian bees, and Apis mellifera, the European or common bee. To recapitulate briefly, the common honey bee be- longs to the class Insecta, order Hymenoptera, super family Apina, family Apidae, genus Apis and species mellifera. So the name of the honey bee is Apis mellifera from the Latin apis, meaning bee and mellifera, meaning honey. From the same given root, apis, comes our word apiculture, meaning the cultivation of bees and also apiary, meaning a collection of colonies of bees. To return to the structure of the honey bee. We have seen that bees have three pairs of legs borne on the lower side of the thorax. The insect leg is composed of a series of parts with joints between, named from the body down, the coxa, trochanter, femur, tibia, tarsus. There is a tendency among bees to bear upon each tibia a so-called spur. In the first pair of legs this spur is modified to form, with an indentation of the first tarsal segment, a circular comb or cleaner. This is known as the antennae cleaner and serves the bee in cleaning the coat of fine hair on the antennae or feelers. The antennae are appendages of the head believed to bear sense organs. Cleaning the antennae is accomplished by the bee's throwing the fore leg up over the head, and the antennae fitting in the indentation, is iu closed by the spur and drawn through the circular comb thus formed. By this process, repeated several times, all particles of dust are removed from the antennae by the little teeth of the comb. The tibial spur of the middle leg is used as a crow-bar in the removal of the pellet of pollen from the tibia of the hind leg. In the hind leg the spur is missing, but located in a similar position to that of the antennae cleaner we have a structure known as the wax-forceps which is opened and closed by the bending of the tarsal joint on the tibia. The use of this forceps will be spoken of later in connection with the wax glands. Fig. 1. Foot of Bee, with the Pulvillus in Use. (magnified fifty times) A, under view of foot; t, t, tarsal joints; an, anguiculi; fh, feeling hairs; pv, pulvillus; cr, curved rod. B, side view of foot; lettering as before. C, cen- tral part of sole; pd, pad; cr, curved rod; fh, feeling hairs; pv, pulvillus un- opened. (From Cheshire by courtesy of L. Upcott Gill, London.) The tibia of the hind leg is modified to form a pollen basket known as the corbicula. This basket is formed simply by long curved hairs arranged along the edges of the flattened and indent- ed tibia, curving outward and over, enclosing, when filled, the pel- let of more or less adhesive pollen. The first tarsal joint is somewhat enlarged and greatly flattened and has on its inner surface a series of rows of regularly arranged stiff, bristle-like hairs used by the bee in cleaning itself and known as combs. The use of these combs in collecting pollen will be spoken of at length in the next section on the habits of bees. There remain a few words to be said in regard to the foot. There is an interesting structure known as the foot pad or pulvillus located between the two forked claws of the foot. This pad pro- duces a secretion of a sticky nature which enables the bee to cling to smooth surfaces. Its action is of interest. The bee, normally walking upon the tips of its claws, finds itself slipping, and in the struggle to stop itself the claws slip, and, in bending under, the sticky pad between them comes in contact with the surface. As the bee lifts the foot in taking another stride the claws serve ai a pry and the pad is pulled loose, beginning at one edge as one would pull or peal up a freshly stuck postage stamp. In this way the bee is enabled to crawl on as highly polished a surface as a win- dow pane. The wings are four in number and are borne on the dorsal part of the first and second thoracic segments. They are membranous and are carried when at rest folded one pair above the other on the back of the body, thus enabling the bee to crawl into its cells with perfect ease. When spread, the two wings are fastened together by a series of hooks on the hind wing^which hook into a fold on the fore wing, thus presenting a continuous surface to the air. Bees can fly forward and backward by adjusting the action of the wings. We will next take up the head and its appendages. The head is triangular in front view, with the mouth located in the lower an- gle. At the two upper angles are located the two large compound eyes, composed of a great number of hexagonal facets, covered with a fine coating of hairs. Besides these compound eyes the bee has three single eyes or ocelli, located in a triangle on top of the head, one in the center and to the front, and the other two placed laterally. On the front side of the head are borne the two feelers or antennae, which function, it is believed, as sense organs smell and possibly hearing. These consist of a long, basal segment, the scape, and a series of small segments, the flagellum, which articu- lates upon the scape. The mouth parts of the bee bear consideration in detail. There Fig. 2 Head and Tongue of Bee (magnified sixteen times.) a, antenna, or feeler; m, mandible, or outer jaw; g, gum flap, or epipharynx; mxp, maxillary palpus; pg, paraglossa; mx, maxilla, or inner jaw; lp, labial palpus; 1, ligula. (From Cheshire by courtesy of L. Upcott Gill, London.) is a central proboscis or tongue which is capable of being drawn in for about half its length, and then it is bent under and carried with the tip against the neck. The tongue proper of the proboscis has a groove down its length, in which operates a rod which raises the honey, chiefly by capillarity. The lower portion of the tongue is covered with a large number of gathering hairs, and at the tip is flattened out, forming a spoon known as the bouton. The proboscis has two pairs of appendages located, one of each, on either side of the tongue proper. These are known as the maxillary and labial palpi respectively, and are chiefly tactile organs assisting, presum- ably, in the gathering of honey. Structurally viewed the proboscis may be considered as the enlarged and modified labium or lower lip, also called the hypopharynx. The^ labrum or upper lip, also known as the epiphanynx, is present unmodified. The side jaws or mandibles are present and are modified, not for biting purposes, but to serve as paddles in the manipulation of the wax in comb-build- irg and also in other work about the colony. The glands for the secretion of wax are located on the under s?de of the abdomen, under the upper and covered portion of the abdominal plates. These horny ^plates of chitin, covered with branching hairs, overlap each other like the shingles of a house. It is on the upper portion of these plates, covered with the plates above, that the wax scales form and appear between the plates of segments, pushing out farther and farther as the process of secret- ing goes on. These scales are seized by the forceps of the hind leg, previously described, and passed forward by the other legs to the madibles where the wax is softened and worked until of the right condition for building purposes. Structurally considered the stinger of a bee is a modified ovi- positor. In the case of the queen bee, its principal service is in the deposition of eggs and in the drone or male bee it is absent. In the worker or undeveloped female, as will appear later, it is modified for defensive purposes and provided with poison, chiefly formic* acid, for injection into wounds inflicted. The stinger proper con- sists of two darts barbed at the ends. In the act of stinging these darts are alternately thrust outward and inward by complex muscu- lar action, thus resulting in the deeper insertion of the sting. The poison is the product of a pair of glands in the ventral portion of the abdomen and is stored in a sack from which it is conducted by Fig. 3. Details of Tongue Structures of Bee. A, Under srde of ligula; Ip, labial palpus; r, r, rod; p, pouch; ah, sheath; gh, gathering hairs; b, bouton, or spoon. B. underlip or labium, with appen- dages, partly dissected 1, lora or submentum; a, a, retractor linguae longus; sr, salivavry duct; rb and b, retractor linguae biceps; mx, mx, maxillae; Ip, Ip libial palpi; pa, paraglossa; gr, feeding groove; sh, sheath of ligula. C, D, and E, cross sections of ligula; hp-, hyaline plate of maxillai; h, hairs acting as stops; mx, maxillae; Ip, labial palpi; sd, side duct. F, cross section of extremity of tongue, near spoon th, tactile hairs; r, rod; n, nucleus; gh, gathering hairs. G, cross section of tonue without gathering hairs, magni- fied 400 times; sh, sheath; b, blood space; t, trachea; ng, gustatory nerve; cd, central duct; sd, side duct; pm, plaited mambrane. H, same as G, but magnified 200 times, and with pm, plaited membrane, turned outwards, as in A; b, blood; n, nucleus; r, rod; h, closing hairs. I small portion of sheath; gh, gathering hairs; th, tactile hairs. K, extemity of tongue with spoon, lettering as before; b, branching hairs for gagthering. (From Cheshire by courtesy of L. Upcott Gill, London). ducts to minute openings opposite each barb, from which openings it passes and thus enters into the lowest portion of the wound. The honey bee usually inserting the stinger to its full depth is unable t3 extricate it, and so, in attempting to free itself, generally muti- lates its body to such an extent that death ensues within a few hours. The stinger continues to act automatically for some mo- ments after the first act of stinging and more poison is injected. Obviously, for this reason, the stinger should be removed as quick- ly as possible, and, since squeezing the stinger in an endeavor to pul! it only introduces more poison, it should be removed by a scrap- ing motion of the fingernail. If we examine the sides of the abdomen of the bee we will find small oval openings, one to each segment, known as spiracles. These open into an elaborate series of tubular passage ways, known as tracheae, leading into the tracheoles, which ramify into every pait of the body of the insect, carrying air to the most remote tissues Circulation is accomplished through a dorsal blood vessel operating in lieu of a heart, driving the blood forward where it bathes the brain first and then gradually returns through the body cavity, en- tering the dorsal pericardial cavity through a series of openings. In a practical treatise of this kind we cannot go into the details of those portions of the anatomy and physiology of the bee, however interesting and wonderful they may be, which do not bear directly upon some practical feature, and for this reason we must pass rapidly over the internal anatomy. Suffice it to say in connection with the nervous system, that there is not a complete centralization of nervous control, as is the case in higher animals, but .instead control is diffused among a series of ganglia occuring throughout the length of the body, explaining the striking performance of a de- capitated bee running about for some time and even attempting to fly, after the head has been removed. There is, of course, a cephalic ganglion or brain which is more highly specialized than the others, for the reception of sensations and general control of the body. We will pass quickly over the digestive systern, citing the most important structures. The honey sack deserves notice. This is located immediately preceding the stomach ami is connected with the latter by a very complicated and interesting passage called the stomach mouth. This passage is composed of four lip-like sides, Fig. 4. Digestive System of Bee (magnified ten times.) A, Horizontal section of body; Ip, labial palpus; mx, maxilla; e, eye; ts aromja and flavor but may even sour. Extracted honey should always be allowed to stand in an open vessel for a day or two thus allowing the scum to rise which should be removed. It may then be drawn off into sixty pound tins or even barrels for shipping or storing purposes. Or if to be : mme- diately marketed smaller cans or jars or bottles may bs filled and labelled. Honey should be graded. To facilitate this it is well to sort the honey when extracting it or to watch the flow from a given source and then extracting that honey before the bees begin a nc'v source. The granulation of honey after being gathered especially in cold weather is looked upon as a sign of its purity. It may be again easily rendered liquid by heating, the containing vessel in a can or boiler of hot water. Very high temperatures should never be ap- plied to honey as it has a tendency to destroy the flavor ami aroma. The foregoing at best is but a brief outline of the subject of bee- keeping and for one interested in the keeping of bees there is n jth- ing better than to become a close reader of one or more of our bee journals. In this way many different methods of operating an apiary may be learned and the whole subject slowly mastered. A list of the bee journals published in this country is here given. Gleanings in Bee Culture, Medina, O. (Bi-monthly.) The American Bee Journal, Chicago, 111. (Weekly.) The Beekeepers' Review, Flint, Mich. (Monthly.) The -American Bee Keeper, Jamestown, N. Y. (Monthly). The Progressive Bee Keeper, Higginsville, Mo. (Monthly) The- Rural Bee Keeper, River Falls, Wis. Monthly.) BEE DISEASES It seems almost superfluous to speak of this subject as Mon- tana bee keepers are so little troubled if at all, by the maladies which attack bees. The most common disease is that of dysentery and the best remedy a good cleansing flight. It only attacks bees in the winter and is caused by excessive dampness or soured honey due again to dampness. There is a paralysis prevalent among bees which is found to attack only the adult bees and hence easily suppressed. It is a bacterial disease and the victims driven forth by the other bees may be seen black and shiny in appearance struggling with their un- certain movements away from the inflicted colony. Removing first Jill of the brood and honey of the colony, powdered sulphur may be strewn about the hive. Another way is to carry the infected colony or colonies away. some distance, a half mile to a mile, and then to remove the brood as fast as it is bred and to save the progeny of the colony. The old bees will soon die off and the colony thus depleted will soon dwindle to nothing and so exterminate the pest. Another bacterial disease of a more serious nature commonly called four brood is the bacillus of the hive. Its common name aiises from the symptoms which are readily noticeable in the brood. The latter becomes dark and in the case of sealed brood if the sunken caps are removed the larvae or pupae in a dead condition are putrid, have a strong odor and are of a stringy or ropy consistency. The simplest remedy for the disease which is very contagious, is to shake the bees from the diseased colony into a box just at night- fall, when they are all in. The combs and honey may 'hen be des- troyed by burning and the hive disinfected by washing with cor- rosive sublimate made by adding one eighth of an ounce to each gallon of water. This same disinfectant may be used on tools and also on the hands after handling the diseased colony. The bees con- fined for two day in a dark place may be now fed a half pint to a pint of medicated syrup each day for two or three days. This syrup is prepared by adding one part of carbolic acid to six hundred parts of sugar syrup. Honey may be used if available. At the end of the fourth or fifth day the bees may be taken out and shaken into a hive provided with starters set up a little apart from the other bees. Should there be considerable brood from several colonies it may be^ placed over one affected colony until the young bees have emerg- ed and then the combs may be melted up for wax by boiling for several hours in hot water. The bits of comb built by the bees dur- ing confinement should be treated similarly. The wax on cooling should have the settlings containing any possible spores burned. Bees thus treated almost always can be cured. As far as we know there have been no cases of this malady in the state, and, in fact, it is not a very common disease, the writer never having met with an actual case in his experience. Categorie:Cărţi în limba engleză